Anton Omelchenko - Groom(1883 - 1932) - Biographical
notes

Born in Bat'ki, near Poltava in the Ukraine into a peasant
farming family, he became groom to a local estate becoming a
jockey. It was as a jockey in Vladivostok in 1909 that he was
recruited by Meares to help select the Manchurian ponies he
had been sent by Scott to buy. Along with fellow Russian Girev
he accompanied the ponies and dogs via New Zealand to Antarctica.
Omelchenko was assistant to Oates who was in charge of the ponies,
he became a popular and hard working member of the expedition
working with the ponies on several sledging journeys.

His work was done when the Polar Party departed and so he
returned home on the Terra Nova at the end of the middle summer
of the expedition in 1912.

In WW1 he fought with the army in Russia and later with the
Red Army. He returned to Bat'ki where he helped to establish
a collective farm, he was killed by lightning in 1932 at the
age of 49.

Anton Omelchenko
Cooking mash in the stable, May 23rd 1911

Anton Omelchenko
Interior of the stable, March 28th 1911

References to Anton Omelchenko
by Cherry-Garrard in "The Worst Journey in the World"

No account of the ponies would be complete without mention
of our Russian pony boy, Anton. He was
small in height, but he was exceedingly strong and had a
chest measurement of 40 inches.

I believe both Anton and Dimitri, the
Russian dog driver, were brought originally to look after
the ponies and dogs on their way from Siberia to New Zealand.
But they proved such good fellows and so useful that we
were very glad to take them on the strength of the landing
party. I fear that Anton, at any rate,
did not realize what he was in for. When we arrived at Cape
Crozier in the ship on our voyage south, and he saw the
two great peaks of Ross Island in front and the Barrier
Cliff disappearing in an unbroken wall below the eastern
horizon, he imagined that he reached the South Pole, and
was suitably elated. When the darkness of the winter closed
down upon us, this apparently unnatural order of things
so preyed upon his superstitious mind that he became seriously
alarmed. Where the sea-ice joined the land in front of the
hut was of course a working crack, caused by the rise and
fall of the tide. Sometimes the sea-water found its way
up, and Anton was convinced that the weird
phosphorescent lights which danced up out of the sea were
devils. In propitiation we found that he had sacrificed
to them his most cherished luxury, his scanty allowance
of cigarettes, which he had literally cast upon the waters
in the darkness. It was natural that his thoughts should
turn to the comforts of his Siberian home, and the one-legged
wife whom he was going to marry there, and when it became
clear that a another year would be spent in the South his
mind was troubled. And so he went to Oates and asked him,
"If I go away at the end of this year, will Captain Scott
disinherit me?" In order to try and express his idea, for
he knew little English, he had some days before been asking
"what we called it when a father died and left his son nothing."
Poor Anton!

He danced the Lancers with Anton, and
Anton, whose dancing puts that of the Russian
Ballet into the shade, continually apologized for not being
able to do it well enough.

References to Anton Omelchenko
by Scott in "Scott's Last Expedition"

Hooper was landed to-day, much to his joy. He got to
work at once, and will be a splendid help, freeing the scientific
people of all dirty work. Anton and Demetri
are both most anxious to help on all occasions; they are
excellent boys.

Anton with Lashly's help had completed
the furnishing of the stables. Neat stalls occupied the
whole length of the 'lean to,' the sides so boarded that
sprawling legs could not be entangled beneath and the front
well covered with tin sheet to defeat the 'cribbers.'

By this time the effect of stimulating liquid refreshment
on men so long accustomed to a simple life became apparent.
Our biologist had retired to bed, the silent Soldier bubbled
with humour and insisted on dancing with Anton.

It is very pleasant to note the excellent relations which
our young Russians have established with other folk; they
both work very hard, Anton having most
to do. Demetri is the more intelligent and begins to talk
English fairly well. Both are on the best terms with their
mess-mates, and it was amusing last night to see little
Anton jamming a felt hat over P.O. Evans'
head in high good humour.

Note: Anton Omelchenko along with fellow Russian Dmitriy
Girev
are referred to almost universally by their first names unlike
all of the other men on the expedition, this is found in the
writings of Cherry-Garrard, Scott and the diaries of others.

Landmarks named after Anton
Omelchenko

Feature Name: Omelchenko Bluff Type: cliff Latitude:
77°38'08''S Longitude: 166°45'33''E
Description: A rock bluff rising above
600m, between Turks Head Ridge and Tech Crags. The bluff is
approximately one kilometer northwest of Grazyna Bluff, Cape
Evans, Ross Island. The bluff is in close proximity to Cape
Evans and is in keeping with other features in this area which
are also named after members of the British National Antarctic
Expedition (1910-13). Named by New Zealand in association with
the 2012 Scott Centenary year.

Key:1 - first winter2 - second winter
iW - first western partyiiW - second western partyN - northern
party

D - depot laying for south pole journeyP - south pole party
C - winter journey to Cape CrozierS - search party for south Pole
partyPo - reached
South Pole

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